


Look how your eyes shine, Elia

by ilostmyguntoday



Category: SKAM (Italy)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-11
Updated: 2018-12-11
Packaged: 2019-09-16 09:28:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16951428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilostmyguntoday/pseuds/ilostmyguntoday
Summary: Marti, Gio, Luchino, Elia, and Niccolò are still at the lake-house when they run out of beer. As Niccolò goes out to buy more, the boys are left alone. Through the drift in conversation, Marti realises that he hasn't mentioned Filippo once to any of his friends. Once Martino shows the boys a photo of Filippo, Elia takes a liking to him immediately





	Look how your eyes shine, Elia

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfic with inspiration from a tumblr prompt. It may not be that coherent, but I'm working on it. Let me know what you think!

Martino felt happy. Happy and sleepy. It was dusk in Bracciano, and the haughty glare of sunlight blazed across the sky in fierce streaks of red. The lake glittered brilliantly in the evening glow, and flickers of light occasionally darting from the ripples of water and fell on Niccolò’s eyes; illuminating the deep greens that resided within them. Martino sunk further into his chair contentedly, gliding a thumb over the warmth of Nico’s palm and smiling when he felt the motion reciprocate.

“Cazzo! There’s no beer left, guys!” Elia called from the fridge. Gio cursed under his breath before smiling and calling back, “why don’t we get Luca to cook up a batch in the bathtub?”, and Elia laughed endearingly in response.  
“It tasted okay!” Luchino protested, “just because I’m more cultured than you guys for trying craft beer …”   
Elia came back into the room in time to hear this statement, and soon both Gio and Elia were grasping each other in hysterics.  
“Bro! Cultured? You were puking that stuff up on that poor girl’s shoes for 30 whole seconds!” Gio wheezed.  
“Fuck you guys, it was all part of the plan”   
“Plan? Luca. Just admit it, bro. Just admit that that beer was not right for consumption” Elia gasped, hands pressed loosely together, accenting each word.  
“No man, we bonded!” Luchino said, whipping out his phone and showing them his contact screen, “why else would she have given me her number?”.   
Gio narrowed his eyes as he examined the number before he was clutching at Elia again,  
“Dude…that’s the number for the Vet advertised outside school!”. Elia covered his face with a hand and shook with laughter, “oh, Bro! No way!”.   
Luchino looked back incredulously at his phone before sheepishly returning it to his pocket. The other two quieter boys watched this event unfold, as if it were a live sitcom being performed in front of them, before Niccolò suddenly stood and gave Martino a kiss on the cheek:  
“I’ll go and grab you guys some more beers” he announced. The boys hastily tried to resurrect their manners, Gio even going as far as to genuinely offer making some homemade beer in the bathtub,  
“It’s quite simple actually” Luchino added brightly, “I’ll go check if we have any yeast…”   
“No, no…” Niccolò laughed, putting a gentle hand out to stop him, “I’ll take the car and be back in half an hour. Besides-” he added with a smirk, “I don’t wanna puke on any of your shoes”.   
Gio and Elia broke into ‘ooooh’s’ and ‘ahhh’s’ and began affectionately ruffling Luchino’s hair.

Martino grinned at Niccolò, and kissed him again as the boys started wrestling each other to the ground –  
“Half an hour?”  
“I’ll try make it 20” Niccolò winked.

After Niccolò had gone to pick up the beer, Martino sat amongst his friends in a daze, almost in disbelief that this weekend was really happening at all. It all just seemed so perfect; too perfect. Before Martino thought about this further, the babble of his friends’ voices came to a sudden halt and he found that they were all looking at him expectantly.  
“Hello?” Elia crooned, “Loverboy? Did you hear me?”  
“Eh?” Martino said quickly, sitting up in his chair.  
“Ah, leave him alone” Gio cut in, pinching Martino’s cheek softly, “he’s in lo-ove!”   
The boys broke out into loud laughter, and Martino tried to play off the heat rising to his face with a half-hearted “Zozzoni” aimed at no one in particular.  
“Aw, Marti don’t be like that! Your face looks like my ass when you frown!” Elia cried, dramatically clutching at his heart, making Gio choke on his lemonade.   
“By the way, that reminds me of a story-” Luchino began,  
“What I was saying”, Elia interrupted, cutting Luchino’s crude anecdote short, “was that I don’t know why the hell you and Niccolò didn’t get back together sooner. Why the wait?”.   
Martino looked at the table and shrugged meekly, tracing a finger over the rim of his glass. Gio glanced at Elia and Luchino, indicating that they should change the subject, but Martino interrupted their ocular conversation, “guys, I’m not a baby. I can handle talking about things you know”.  
“News to me” Elia mumbled to himself, but Martino didn’t hear him. Instead Martino let the words of Dr Spera echo encouragingly in his mind,   
“What happens when the co-pilot needs to piss, Rametta?” he enquired, twirling a decaying shin bone between his fingers, “What then?”.

Martino took a deep breath and started with the one issue his friends new well -  
“Well, I guess – my ma was on my case like crazy. She was stressing about work and we were arguing a lot…”  
Martino’s voice dwindled at the sight of Elia’s weary expression and Luchino’s heavy groan.   
“Vaffanculo, Marti!” Elia sighed, and even Gio looked a little too worn out with his story to defend him.  
“It’d be easier for me to get a girl’s real number than it would be to get anything out of you” Luchino said, hands emphasising each word he spoke in frustration. Martino faltered, and felt shame fill his body and mind- Why couldn’t he just express his emotions? Why couldn’t he just ‘open up’ and tell everyone what was on his mind? Why was he exactly like his Mother?   
Gio put a heartfelt hand on his shoulder and shook it gently, “Hey, you don’t have to tell us anything you don’t want to. Okay man?”  
Martino nodded, and Luchino apologised guiltily – “I didn’t mean to push you, Marti”  
“Don’t apologise.” Marti said quickly, “You guys have been patient enough with my shit. It’s only fair you know what’s going on. Basically, I was stressed for a while because … I asked Filippo for advice and… he told me I had no chance with Ni. He told me I should try move on and find someone else. You know, because guys never leave their girlfriends for guys? To be honest, after the way Ni acted I thought it was over for sure. So, I gave up any hope that I had for our ‘relationship’ and accepted it was over for us.”. The words came out in a tumble, and by the end of it Marti exhaled almost out of exhaustion.  
But, to his disappointment, the boys stared at Martino with an intense perplexity, and Martino slowly examined their faces trying to pinpoint their confusion.   
“Uh, Ni is my nickname for Niccolò by the way” Martino clarified.  
Gio exhaled, exasperated, and Luchino buried his face further into his hands,  
“Marti, you knuckle head! We know who ‘Ni’ is!”   
“Then why were you guys just staring at me like a bunch of puppies?”  
Elia looked as if he were about to explode,  
“Mamma Mia, Marti you said ‘Filippo’. Who the hell is Filippo?”   
Martino was dumbstruck for a moment and found himself staring at his friends with disbelief.   
“Cazzo, cazzo, cazzo…” Martino whispered, “You guys don’t know Filippo? Did I never tell you about Filippo?”  
“You don’t tell us much, bro” Luchino said, biting into a hard piece of sourdough that had been left over from breakfast.   
“I guess I just forgot” Martino said, guiltily.  
Elia shook his head in disdain, “How you got Covitti and Fares to like you, I’ll never know! Your head is as empty as a drum sometimes”  
Luchino snorted again, spraying breadcrumbs on to the floor, and Martino returned him a sarcastic smile. Gio, however, remained solemn and nudged him fondly, “Tell us”.

“I met him when I was…at the library” Martino said, tactfully avoiding the embarrassing memory of ‘Gay street’, “And he gave me his number in case I ever wanted to talk”.  
The boys looked at each other, nodding and shrugging,   
“Nice guy!” Gio said, “Eleanora’s brother?”  
“Yeah” Marti said, prompting Luchino to clutch at his forehead suddenly,  
“Cazzo! That Filippo? At the party? Oh man, I can’t believe you were friends with him and never told us! The chicks LOVE him, he could probably introduce us to some of them…hook us up maybe…” Luchino said suggestively, wiggling his eyebrows at Martino.  
“Filippo may be cool, Luchi, but he’s not God” Gio cut in. Luchino stuck a middle finger up at him.  
“What does he look like” Elia probed, ignoring everything the boys had said.  
“Uhhh, I don’t know? Normal.”   
Elia rolled his eyes,  
“Normal? Thanks Marti, you really are the Leopardi of the group”  
“Well I don’t know! What do you want me to do? Describe the shade of his eyes on a summer’s evening while Luchino feeds you grapes?” Martino quipped back, evoking sniggers from their friends.   
Elia flushed slightly, “no… I was just curious”.  
There was a pause.   
“…if I’d seen him before”, he added hastily.  
“Well, he dyes his hair every other week.” Martino said,   
“And he wears a lip ring” Gio added, with a devilish smirk.  
Elia’s eyes gleamed at that statement, and for a moment Martino thought that he saw him subtly bite his lower lip.

“Here”, Martino lent back in his chair and pulled his phone from his pocket and scrolled for a few seconds, “this is from his Instagram”. Martino pointed the screen to Elia, who, as if under enchantment, gazed at the photo in wonder and slowly pulled it free from Martino’s grasp.   
“Cool hair” he murmured,  
“Are you in love Eli? Oh, look how his eyes shine…” Luchino sang, grinning widely. Elia sobered up and scoffed at the remark,   
“pfft! Hilarious, Luca. I was…just remembering how I always wanted to dye my hair like that when I was a kid. I think silver would suit me, no?”  
Luchino and Gio looked at each other doubtfully.   
“You’d look like a grandma” Martino said casually, and Gio spluttered.  
“What!?” Martino cried, feigning innocence at Elia’s scowl, “Grandmas can be hot!”  
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Elia cried, his face cracking into a wide smile at the ridiculousness of Martino’s observation. Gio and Luchino were already laughing silently, shoulders shaking and eyes close to tears. In between gasps for breath Gio shook his head, muttering with a degree of defeat, “che cazzo stai dicendo…”. 

“Ciao”, Niccolò called to the gang of boys who were now splayed lazily out on the carpet, the soft blare of the TV buzzing with a FIFA game.   
“Ciao” they chorused back, Martino standing to greet him with a peck on the lips.   
Martino’s warm smile dissipated when his gaze fell upon the six pack of beers in Niccolò’s hands; the bright yellow logo transporting him back to when he when he first met Filippo, with his head spinning and the taste of vomit in his mouth. Niccolò saw his expression falter,  
“Sorry, I didn’t know what kind you liked so I grabbed the nearest few” he explained,  
“No, don’t apologise! I just remembered a time when I drank loads of them and…well, I ‘pulled a Luchino’”  
Niccolò chuckled fondly, “you didn’t like them much after that?”  
“No, I feel sick at the thought of them”  
“More for us then!” Gio snickered, not looking away from the game of FIFA he and Luchi were very invested in  
“By the way, thanks for getting them Nico” Gio added, glancing quickly at Niccolò and nodding appreciatingly.   
“You call me Nico now?” he jested,  
“Yup, decided on it just this second. I’m sticking with it”.  
“I like it”   
“Good” Gio said, mocking seriousness before breaking out into a smile.  
Niccolò grinned back, his eyes flashing with warmth. When he turned back to Martino, his face looked as if it were recalling something:  
“But how come you didn’t pick up when I called you? Was there no service?”  
“Eh?”  
“I tried to call to ask about what beers you wanted? I assumed the call didn’t go through”.  
Martino’s face became almost childlike in its confusion, and the sudden theatrical slapping of his pockets didn’t help -  
“Oh, Cazzo!” Martino whispered, “My phone! Where’s my phone?”. Martino’s eyes rummaged the room, his head jolting from left to right, before his gaze finally fell on to the sofa. Martino could see his phone, barely visible, in the delicate clutch of a certain Elia Santini, who, he had to admit, looked like an angel when he slept. His knees were slightly drawn to his stomach, and his dark chestnut hair fell softly over his forehead like they were placed there for a portrait, his chin hidden by the cushion he was embracing. Martino recognised that position; the position of a ‘Smitten Kitten’, as Filippo called it. By now Gio had paused the game and had followed Marti and Nico’s gaze to where Elia lay,  
“Ahh… che Angelo” Gio whispered, giggling with Luchino. Martino faked a huff and begrudgingly stepped over to Elia, being careful to not step on the creaky floorboards. The boys watched in silent amusement as he pried his phone gently from Elia’s grasp. Elia shifted slightly, but remained asleep, before turning over and sinking back into the sofa with a groan. Out of moral obligation, Martino shook out the blanket that had been haphazardly thrown over the sofa’s and draped it over the slumbering form.  
Stifled guffaws emerged from behind him, and Martino turned to see Gio and Luchino with their hands to their hearts in a half ironic, half serious admiration of Martino’s affection,  
“Awww, che dolce” Luchino sighed. 

So as not to wake Elia, the rest of them had filed into the bedroom to hang out for the rest of the evening – Gio shushing Luchino whilst he muttered angrily about not finishing his FIFA game. Luchino and Gio sat cross legged at the foot of the bed while Nico and Marti leant into each other, legs tangled and arms pressed together, with their backs resting against the headboard.  
“Why did he have your phone?” Giovanni asked.  
Martino shrugged, “Probably sending prank texts to Sana or something…trying to get me killed”.  
Nico let out an exhale of laughter, “She really would kill you”.  
Gio agreed sombrely,  
“She fucking scares me” Gio muttered, “you know she once said to me that I should carry around a plant to replace the oxygen I waste?”   
Luchino let out a sound that implied ‘ouch’ and Nico winced in sympathy whilst Martino absentmindedly unlocked his phone. Half preparing himself for a dozen replies to obscene or bizarre prank texts, he was instead met with the dark eyes of Filippo Sava staring deeply into his - the chalky white hair left in a messy fringe about his head and his lip ring glinting in the sun. Whatever Marti had been expecting, it wasn’t this. Marti could feel Nico watching the screen, and when he looked up they both smiled in an understanding way; especially at the fact that Elia had scrolled all the way through Filippo’s many, many selfies right to the first one, dated June 2015.   
“Jesus, who’d have thought Elia was so stalker-ish” Marti whispered quietly to Nico, indicating the post date.  
“Yeah, he should calm down and just leave notes for him in his school books. It’s much more chill that way” Nico whispered back, sticking his tongue out beneath his teeth in humour, to which Marti elbowed him playfully in response.  
“What are you two lovebirds whispering about? Share it with the class” Luchino piped up.  
“Nothing, we were just discussing what Elia was getting up to -”  
“Watching porn?” Luchino suggested eagerly.  
Gio tutted disapprovingly and cuffed him lightly on the back of the head, “Zozzone.”.   
“Hey, I was only curious” Luchino laughed, raising his arms in mock defeat.  
“I think Elia is too” Martino thought, deleting the tab as he did so.


End file.
